Looking for Alaska's Purpose

So it seems that I've been reading a lot of young adult literature lately. All I have to say to that is, I'm taking a young adult lit class...so...you know, that's why. The latest novel I read, and can I say right off the bat, damn it was good, was Looking for Alaska. Apparently this novel is very controversial, and, although I'm not too familiar with this whole parental debate, I'm pretty sure it's one of the most tame novels I've ever read. I realized after doing some research that Black Boy has been a required text in high school. That novels main scene is a guy suffocating a woman, cutting her up, and putting her in a furnace. I'm pretty sure a 16 year old can handle the "lesson on blowies" scene. I think the older we get the more we forget what it's like to be young. Anyways, I promise I didn't write this blog to talk about teenage confusion of the female anatomy.

There was an interesting concept to the novel when one of the main charters ( guess who, Alaska) asked "how do we get out of this labyrinth"? It's a pretty intense question and I'm assuming you will find a million different answers. I will give you a hint, however, she answered wrong.

I started thinking about what my answer would be to this question because I'm so wise and all. I suppose that right now in my life my answer would be change, change and hard work. I've found that nothing comes easy. Not a job, not money, and certainly not friends. All these things take work and time. I believe if youre not happy, you should change. Most of the time this means yourself. A person, place, or thing (otherwise a noun) will never give you happiness for an extended amount of time. It's always going to be you that dictates your life and your face staring back at you in the mirror. You better find a way to love that face, I mean emotionally and physically.

The Book Theif by Markus Zusak

There was a qestion asked in class that really triggered some thoughts for me. It was, "What role does the use of words play in the novel?" It gave the example of Mein Kamph. The question made me think of the power of words and the power of a book. It's ironic that in the novel, The Book Theif, some of the German citizens loved the act of burning literature that was, so called, "faux pa." In the novel, they give the example of burning a book called The Shoulder Shrug. It was a story of a Jewish man who was treated too well. I found it odd that people were so worried about being influenced by Jewish literature, but they never stopped to think of what a book like Mein Kamph was teaching them. The book burners were right in being frightened by the power of text/words, I just think they chose the wrong words to frighten them. In the Book Theif, there are a lot of instences where the reader sees parellels. There is a story at the end of the novel that Max tells. It is about people constantly standing over him. He first talks of it as something he is afraid of and then progresses to say that it comforts him. The dependant variable in Max's story is the person doing the standing. When he was little it was a bully he used to fight with. At the end, it's Liesel. This story struck me as odd because, if you recall, Death is the narrator. Max writes about his fear of people standing over him and yet, the one standing over him truely, is Death. The story, therefore, makes a parallel between Liesel and Death. Interesting....I think so.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gayman

I could not put this book down. This was one of the most interesting and fun reads I have had in a long time. I thought the story was very original and I think this was one of the reasons I like the novel so much. It was refreshing to read a storyline that hasn't been beat to death by pen and paper. There was a line in the book where Silas says, "There are other unremembered gates." I immediately thought of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, one of the last lines, "at the unknown, remembered gate." It may or may not have anything to do with that, but I like to think that Neil Gayman knew his Eliot. If this is the case, then that line could be very important. Eliot, when he spoke of the remembered gate, spoke of it only being remembered at the end of all things (thus death). It would make sense that Silas would be aware of entrances and exits after death and Nobody is still oblivious. This line can be connected to the end of the novel, when Nobody is leaving the graveyard. He sees his life ahead of him being the ultimate journey. He wants to explore and eventually learn the deep secrets of the world, or maybe just the graveyard. So, I understand I'm pushing the boundaries alittle bit with the metaphors, but, hey, isn't that the joy of reading?